How can we you create the right conditions and collaborative structures to implement AI in healthcare in a responsible and sustainable way? The UMCG is launching a cross-border project with nine healthcare institutions, knowledge partners, and technology companies in the northern Netherlands and northwestern Germany. Thanks to EU/Interreg, the provinces of Groningen, Drenthe, and Overijssel, and the Ministry of Federal and European Affairs and Regional Development of Lower Saxony, €4.3 million has been made available for the NeoVitAI project.
Because hospitals differ in terms of systems, departments, and legal and ethical requirements, it is important to map out these preconditions and structures. By developing a specific AI implementation manual, the project's most important outcome is that future AI solutions will find their way into healthcare in a reliable manner.
As a starting point for this manual, the project partners build on an initiative by Neolook, created together with the neonatal intensive care unit of the UMCG: Neolook ONE. “This is a carefully developed video system that has been specially designed for neonatology,” explains project leader and head of the Neonatology ICU Elisabeth Kooi. "It combines a high-quality camera with secure software and a secure storage environment, enabling images of newborns to be recorded continuously and reliably. By linking these images to other data, such as heart rate, breathing, oxygen, and biological information such as blood and metabolic profiles, we get a much more complete picture of how a baby is doing and can predict potential problems at an early stage."
Within the NeoVitAI project, Neolook ONE serves as a practical and proven showcase for learning how AI can be implemented responsibly, says Kooi: technically, organizationally, ethically, and with an eye for parents, nurses, and doctors. 'In such a vulnerable environment, it forms a solid foundation for future, safe, and human-centered AI applications in the care of premature babies.'
Dutch partners in the project are UMCG, Isala, Treant, Neolook BV, and Evidencio. From Germany, Applied Biosignals GmbH, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, KIZMO, Klinikum Oldenburg AöR, and Krankenhaus Ludmillenstift are involved. The project area covers the northern Netherlands up to Zwolle and northwestern Germany (Weener, Oldenburg, Meppen region). NeoVitAI will run for three years.
